The Return of the King Greeted With Mixed Emotions

I am writing this after witnessing the extraordinary come back from our leading goal scorer and legend Thierry Henry. He returned to the Emirates as a fan and showed that class never fades with age. His movement, touch and finish enlightened what was a very poor performance against Leeds who are currently lying 8th in the Championship. Elation buzzed throughout the Emirates stadium after he had scored but now that the dust has settled I feel that his presence brings about more questions than answers.

Whether Henry’s return is a major success or even a disappointment can it really benefit a team that is supposed to be competing for the trophies? You have to look at the following two extreme examples to realise that Henry’s return could actually have a negative impact on our squad:

Henry’s Return is a Phenomenal Success:

Let’s assume that Henry continues to come off the bench and have a major impact on all of the games he is involved in. He scores goals and provides assists that pushes us into the Champions League places, beat Milan and help us to progress in the FA Cup. The major problem with this is that he has to go back to the MLS before the end of February. What happens then? Will it deflate the squad to see Henry leave and disappear back to the USA? Will our results plummet after his departure? Is our existing squad good enough to cope with eventual loss of our talisman.

Henry’s Return is a Disappointment:

Despite the heroics against Leeds this could still be a risk. He may have scored against a Championship team but can he still perform at the highest level? He is obviously not the same player he was when he left. He is a little slower and there are question marks over his stamina. Personally I do not think this will be an issue because class never dies.

The fact remains that TH will always be a hero to all true Arsenal fans but I really hope that we are not going to rely solely on him to give us the additional attacking quality that we currently lack. There is no doubt that TH will have a great influence in the dressing room and that he can still be a superb impact substitute.

The main problem however remains that he will only be with us for 2 months. His loan move simply papers over the cracks in our squad and I just hope that Arsene realises that we need to spend some serious money if we are going to achieve anything this season.

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